What can the Internet be used for?

Buy things

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The Ancient China didn’t have the Internet… they

had the Silk Road…….

Buy things

Share ideas

Sell things

The Silk RoadThe Silk Road is an an ancient route starting in Xian China and traveling westward to the city of Antioch in Turkey. The entire route is about the distance of 4,000 miles.

Why was it called the Silk Road?

It got its name from a very common item to be traded on the Silk Road… silk. The silk was made from small caterpillars called silk worms. The route was used for merchants to travel along, to trade goods. No one really ever took the entire path all the way from Antioch to Xian, because of the dangers that lie on the path, so the goods were passed along, merchant to merchant. By the time the goods made it across the entire route, they were extremely expensive.

Stop and write in the first box about your feelings about raveling on the silk road as a piece of silk. Are you excited? Afraid?

What was it like traveling on the Silk Road?

The Silk road is not as pleasant as it sounds. Sandstorms,robbers, wars and natural disasters were to be expected on the path. Bandits were also a problem, especially one of the most powerful groups of bandits, the Mongolian alliance Xion nu.

Stop and write about the sandstorms, robbers or natural disasters. Did you get damaged? Did anyone try and steal you?

The Silk Road

The path is not a continuous one, but many different routesgoing in different directions to get to different cities. It was also a very hard path to pass. The starting point of the path was Xian. The main path of this route than split at Dunhuang, another city in China. One path headed north above a harsh desert here where very few got out alive.

Stop and write about what it was like in the dry, hot desert.

Meanwhile, the other main path made its way South. The two branches then met up in Kashgar where the travelers had to be ready for the long journey through some of the highest mountains in the world. If the travelers made it over the mountains the path would take them through a dangerous valley through Iran and Constantinople. The long journey was over when the caravansreached the Black and the Mediterranean Sea. The merchants turned around and got ready for the long journey back on the Silk Road.

Stop and write about the dangerous mountains.

What was traded on the Silk Road?

Caravans from China would carry silk to the western edges of the region. Silk was traded for:

· Ironware, gold and platinum, bronze mirrors· Ceramics, lacquer and bamboo wares· Furs· Medicinal herbs and drugs· Farming technology and equipment· Chinese inventions of gunpowder, papermaking and printing

What the Chinese got for trade included:· Perfumes, ivory, jewels and glassware· Grapes, sesame, pomegranates, walnuts,

cucumbers, carrots· Lions, peacocks, elephants, camels and

horses· Wines and spices

In one box write about what you were traded for.In the final box write about what you were made into… a dress, a robe, a banner, a curtain….